SmartThings, a home automation gadget, raised $1.2 million from 5,694 backers.

What it is: "SmartThings makes it easy to connect the things in your physical world to the Internet. You can monitor, control, automate, and have fun with them from anywhere - at home, office, or on the go."

A comic, The Order of the Stick, managed to raise $1.25 million from nearly 15,000 people.

What it is: "I've been self-publishing my comedy-fantasy-adventure webcomic The Order of the Stick in paper format since 2005, but one of the hardest parts about doing it all on my own is keeping the older books available. This project is designed to get at least one of those books back into print."